Email: Happy Investigator

Hello Family,

             Hello again well if you can believe it I have officially survived one whole transfer. That is six weeks dwn only a lot more to go haha. No, it was such a great transfer and I learned so much in such a short period of time. I am so grateful that I can be out here serving. So some updates from last time I emailed. I took over the area for the second time last Tuesday. It was a little more nerve racking this time though because I was with the zone leader this time. He is a really awesome guy though so it ended up not being to terrible. So we were walking around that day and we tracted into this guy sitting in his garage. He was about 70 or 80 somewhere in there. We got to talk to him for a bit before his wife got home. She is about the same age and really nice. So we talked with her for a quite a while and they invited us to come inside out of the heat for a bit. She is really interested in family history and was really excited when we told her that we could help her get started on hers. After a while right before we left we offered to pray with her and her husband and offer to bless there home and there family. She just lit up when we told her that.She got just giddy. So we asked if we could come back and teach her some more and she said she would love it if we did. That was such a neat experience to do that. We are actually going to meet with her later today so I will let you know how that goes.

              So pretty much everything out here is same old same old. Just doing a lot of finding and a bit of teaching. I just have to tell you mom and dad how grateful I am for the type of parents you are and the kind of home you raised us all up in. I have seen a lot of families out here that could use the gospel in their lives so much, but they are to hard in their hearts to recognize that need.  It truly is amazing, just night and day, the difference between the families without those moral values and without the presence of the priesthood in their homes and those that do. So I want to thank you for that.

              I hope everyone is doing alright back home. Staci with the baby, linds and rob with the move, and kate and hannah just with life in general. How has Derek been doing in the MTC? How about Tevan? have things gotten better for him? Last Wednesday when Derek went in I just remembered what it was like and how much I have changed since then. Not in being myself but spiritually and in maturity. It is amazing how fast you mature and grow when you have the spirit working on you like it does. Those two will see that come to life very soon. The amount of growth in the MTC and the first few weeks in  the field is unlike anything I have ever experienced.

               So in other news my companion, Elder Woolley, has become District Leader for our district. It was really cool to get the news. So I will let you know how he is doing with that. Well I love you all very much. I am praying constantly for you all. I love you all and thank you for all of the love and support

                                                                    Love Elder Payne

Pictures in Citrus Heights!

Hunter just sent us home his memory card with some fun pictures and videos! It's fun to see him being his goofy self! Looks like he is doing great!

Pictures from 6/30/12-7/24/12

2 Great Danes-

Just chillin' (in apartment)-

 

Contact Jenga with Alfred. I think I have told you about him. Mexican mafia, has one leg-

No caption with this photo, but it must be a picture of his or his companion's tire- look at that worn out tread!

 A falcon in a tree

 Scripture Power (it's real!)-

 I was bored with Skittles-

Video of Elder Payne & Elder Woolley telling about their flat tire experience-

http://youtu.be/BfbQbfsLqkw

Metal that was in bike tire-

 Harry Potter wands- 

 Our zone (sorry we are fuzzy)

Sweet!

The ice cream challenge (at Leatherby's)- and yes, I did eat all of it! In under 15 minutes.

Elder Gillen (he leaves this next week)-

Our district-

Really funny (came from that little book you gave me)

(For all those who aren't writing him! haha kidding)

Letter: Bearing Testimony

This is a really great letter we wanted to share!

7/25/12

Hello Family,
Well here is your letter that you have been so anxiously awaiting. Sounds like things are going good there still. Things are pretty much the same here. we have actually found 2 new investigators so far this week! We are really excited to finally be seeing some success. I know that all of that hard work is finally paying off. I have to thank you for all of your prayers, they are really being felt on my end.

How is everyone doing with everything that is going on with Linds and Rob? How crazy is it to think when you come and visit them you will only be 2 hours away from me? Pretty crazy if you ask me. They really are going to love it out here. Some of the laws are a little ridiculous, but they will adapt just fine in no time.

Wow! Isn't it crazy that my first transfer is already basically done with? Now I only have about 16 more. haha! There is a missionary going home from our district and he kept telling me how fast it goes and how he remembers like it was yesterday when he was in my position. I'm sure it is going to be the exact same way and soon I will be in his shoes.

So I took over the area for the second time yesterday. This time I was with our Zone leader. He is a Tongan/Samoan guy from Florida. He is awesome and we had a great day. He told me that he was really impressed with how well I ran the area. He didn't really even have to do that much. That was really great to hear that I did well. I was really nervous to do it with ZL here but sounds like I did alright.

As you will hear on the video I am sending you, I had my first real experience with a really bashy guy. I stood my ground though and didn't bash back. I just bore him my testimony and walked away. It was probably the maddest I have been out here so far. Just because he was bashing on things that I hold so close to my heart.

Well, I love you all so much. Thank you all for all of the support. Hannah, thank you for the letter. That was very sweet of you. I hope that moose didn't scare you too bad (a moose walked into their testimony meeting at YW's camp). I love you all.

Love, Elder Payne

Email: Been out 2 months!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Hello to everyone,
                     I got your package with all of the treats. Thank you very much me and Elder Woolley have been enjoying them. I havent gotten the other package yet. I got a message from the post office saying that it is here but we havent been home to get it. So it is sitting at the post office. Something cool. I met a kid out here that was in aaron blacks district in the mtc. Crazy huh.
                             So some new things that have happened last week. I took over the area for the first time on exchanges. It was a little scary but I think I did a pretty good job. I am actually on exchanges again today with the zone leaders. They are really good guys and fun to exchange with. It is so weird that my first transfer is about up. I have almost been out here 2 whole months! It has gone by faster than I thought it would. So almost 1 down only 16 more to go. haha I miss you all so much. How is derek doing? is he ready? Tell him i love him and that he is going to be a great missionary. How is Whit doing? Is she going to be ok? Sorry that I have so many questions just trying to figure out everything that is going on back there.  Well i love you all very much and be watching for my letter. Also mom i love the scripture verses they are great so keep those coming I Love you all.
                                                                             Love Elder Payne

Email: Bikes

Monday, July 16, 2012

Hello Family
                Well this week has been extremely challenging and difficult but fun. So I will start on Tuesday. It started out just the same as any other day. We got up and took off out of our apartment at about 11. (We dont leave until then because i am new so I get an extra hour of study.) So we had to go to the library to do a thing for being a new missionary. Anyways on the way I must have hit something because my tire was losing air fast. SO I pulled out a piece of metal that was about 2 inches long that had gone right through my tire. Bummer so we had to walk my bike back to the church. We had a member come and pick us up and take us back the apartment to get an extra tube. So we took it back changed the tube and took off again to meet someone. We got about a mile and a half away from the church and guess what? Elder Woolley got a huge nail right through his tire. So we then got to walk about that far back to the church again. Luckily i had brought a patch kit with us. So all of this was going on in about 107 degrees outside. So that all took about 2 and a half hours to do all that. So after this we decided to go tract a street we had been thinking about tracting for a while. We start on one end door after door no one is interested. One larger lady was particularly rude she slammed the door in our face yelling " Ah Heck No!" only she didnt say "heck". haha Then a tender mercy. The very next door I knocked and told the man who we were and what we were out doing and asked him if he would be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ. To my complete and utter surprise he said yes. I was in complete shock I didnt even know what to say. I just looked over at Elder Woolley with a stunned look. He was stunned as well for about 3 seconds before he started in to the restoration and the Book of Mormon. Another big shock is he accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would read it and that we could come back. That just absolutely made my day. We havent been able to make contact with him again yet but hopefully soon. So the next day was about 108 which made for a lot of fun biking. Then finally it cooled off to about 95. Which felt so much cooler than the day before. The rest of the week went by pretty well until Sunday where we got another flat tire. Elder Woolleys back tire went flat. He had to borrow a members bike. So at the end of the week we didnt have the best numbers but we did recieve about 3 or 4 really good refferals and potential investigators.Hopefully they will play out for us.
                  Just letting you all know I am loving the work I am doing out here. It is so hard but so fulfilling. Tell Tevan that i love him. I can totally tell where he is coming from. The first few days in the MTC are pretty terrible. Tell him to hang in there and it will all be worth it. I was pretty far behind everyone in my class there as far as knowledge of the scriptures, but all he needs is a strong testimony, which I know he has, and a strong will to work, which is one of Tevans strongest values. Remind him of what i said to him in my talk. The whole world is expecting him to fail, only he can decide whether or not he will listen to the "World". I am so happy for Big D it sounds like his farewell talk went really well. I am praying continually for my two best missionary friends. Tevan and Big D so let them know how proud I am of them. Speaking of best friends how is Whit doing I havent heard much from her i ll bet she si really busy Tell her I love her and cant wait to hear from her.
                 So Rob and Linds are coming to join me here in Cali. Weird! I am excited for them to be getting such a great job oppurtunity. They are going to love it even though they have to leave there families. I have been praying for them to be lead in the best direction possible for them. I lvoe you both so much. So the cat is out of the bag with Staci huh? That is so exciting I loved the pics they emailed me they were great. Well I am runnning out of time i love you all and cant wait to hear back from you.
                                                                               Love Elder Payne

(I finally got a hold of Hunter's mission pictures, so I'll be adding them on here with his emails so you can see what a handsome missionary he is.)

Correct Address

Here is Hunter's correct address:

(You can send letters and packages to this address)

Elder Hunter Payne
6430 Verner Ave. #240
Sacramento, CA  95841

(From family pictures in May)

Email: 4th of July

Monday, July 9, 2012

Hello to my family,
                So this past week we probably worked harder than we have since I have been here. We figured that since the 4th of July was in the middle of the week there would be a lot of families and people
home for the Holiday. That didnt exactly turn out to be the case. It ended up being my companion and I going around  and finding out that person after person after person was gone. So we came to the
conclusion that most people just used the 4th as an excuse to take the whole week off. We did get to meet with a few families and meet a few new people. It was a lot of hardwork and a lot of sweating but
hopefully we were able to make a little bit of a difference for somebody. This next week is looking much more promising. We have a lot of finding time so that is going to be our primary focus is going out
and finding new people. So please support us by keeping that in your prayers. Last Friday we had a trainer, trainee meeting in Gridley, which is about an hour away. It was great to go and see a few familiar faces from the MTC. It was great to hear some of there stories and some of there success. We had a great lesson by President Weston on the Doctrine of Christ. It was a lot of great information that
strengthened my testimony of Christ. Later that night I went on my second exchange with the Zone leaders. It was great because instead of having to ride my bike, I got to ride in a car all day. We taught a
couple of really great lessons. One was to a lady who was Korean. She did not have a good background as far as God. She did not believe there was a life after death and she had been going to a Jehovahs witness service that had really confused her. We were able to give her a Korean Book of Mormon. She was really happy and excited to know we have them in Korean. It was a good experience for me to see some different styles of teaching and I know i learned a lot.
                  It sounds like there is a lot going on back home. It is great to hear things. It helps me to stay connected to you all so dont be afraid to shoot me a quick email or letter if you feel so inclined. I hfound a great scripture that made me laugh a little it is Proverbs 25:25. Look it up and you will see why. Along with that you have no idea how great it is to get letters from home. It just brightens my week and helps me to keep my spirits up. So it sounds like you had a pretty fun party for Kate. It is so crazy that she is
16!!!! It is amazing how fast time flys. Im sure that will become more prevelant in the coming months. So Katie I want to wish you a very Happy Birthday! That video of me blowing in slow motion jsut imagine
that is me attempting to blow out your candles haha. I love you and know that you are growing into a beautiful young woman. That is very excinting about her car. Im sure she was just beaming with joy. Make sure and get me a picture of her in her car.
            So Tevan is about to take off. That is so weird. Please call him and tell him that I love him and good luck. I will be sending you (mom and Dad) a letter for him hopefully you can forward that along to him. Tell Derek that his letter is on its way and should be getting there soon. Tell the whole Valtinson family that I love them and that Tevan is going to be a great missionary.  I Love you all so much and cant waitto hear from you.
                                                                       Love Elder Payne

Email: Family

Monday, July 2, 2012


Hello to my wonderful family,
         I am just going to start out by saying how much a I love and miss all of you. Out here I am seeing families that have been ripped apart, and split up for various reasons. It makes me so greatful to have such a wonderful family like you all. Things here have been so busy and crazy. I feel bad that I havent been able to get letters out as quickly as I would like. If you have sent me one recently dont worry they are coming. So it sounds like everyone is doing really well. That is really scary what happened to Amber. It
is good to know that she is doing alright now though. Tell her how happy I am for her and that she is in my prayers. That is also really scary what happened to Drake. Sounds like he was tough as ever though.
Thats my little bud. I hope all of you girls are having a fun time down in St. George.
           Concerning this last week. Well this past week has been a big disappointment compared to how it should have gone. First the little girl that was going to be baptized this past Saturday didnt end up getting baptized. Her mother who is a non-member called it off because she did not feel that the little girl was ready to make a commitment like that. The mother also wants to know a little bit more about the church so she feels more comfortable. We told her that was totally understandable. So hopefully we are going to be able to start teaching the mother as well. That way we can just baptize them both. Next a family that seemed really interested, had us over for dinner and for a lesson. When it came time for the lesson they told us that they werent really ready to start doing it. That kinda sucked because they are such a great family and I know that the gospel would be able to bless them so much. So our plan of action is to continue fellowshipping them so that maybe they eventually will want to hear about the gospel. Throughout the week we had a bunch of cancelled appointments which also sucked. However this week is looking a lot better. Elder Woolley and I are really optimistic for this coming week. We are going to be focusing on less actives and potential investigators. So make sure and keep that in your prayers.
             Even though I am missing you I know that the lord is blessing our family so much because of the work I am doing. The blessings are already apparent. It makes me want to work even harder so that I can try and repay the blessings that we are all recieving. Make sure and keep me updated on everything going on. I am praying constantly for all of you. I cant wait to here back from you. I love you all so much. Remember how greatful I am to be out here. I love you!
                                                                                   Love, Elder Payne

Photo by: Aunt Becky Duncan

http://www.duncansphotogallery.com/